Photo credit: Cherry Springs Star Party
Now that I’m back in the office from a wonderful trip to Hawaii to see the transit of Venus, I’m leaving again on Friday. This time for a short duration, though, having been invited to speak at the Cherry Springs Star Party (CSSP) in northern Pennsylvania. The annual event is put on by the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg and takes place at Cherry Springs State Park, near Coudersport, south of Buffalo and Rochester, New York. Each year, several hundred people get together there for dark skies and observing, as well as talks and other fun.
This year’s speakers include me on recent advances in astronomy, planetary science, and cosmology; Mike Simonsen of the American Association of Variable Star Observers; Jason Kendall, NASA’s solar system ambassador to New York City, on the Mars Science Laboratory mission; Don Pullen on amateur radio and amateur astronomy; and Philip Downey on observing from the Atacama Desert in Chile.
The Astronomy Foundation will be well-represented at this event by myself and by Vice President Karen Jennings, who, along with her husband, Chuck — a seasoned deep-sky observer and telescope maker — invited me to the event. I expect we’ll have some wonderful observing there and some fun things to report.
The skies at CSSP should be dark, which got me thinking about an observing list. Strange things come to mind. How about some unusual planetary nebulae in Cygnus? NGC 6826, NGC 6894, NGC 7008, NGC 7027, and NGC 7048. There’s also the Crescent Nebula and, of course, the Veil Nebula. Nearby lie the great planetaries NGC 6781, NGC 6804, NGC 6879, and NGC 6905. What about strange galaxies in the Virgo cluster? The galaxy/quasar pair in Draco NGC 4319 and Markarian 205? Big, sprawling open clusters in Cassiopeia? Scads of nebulae and star clusters in the mainline of the Scorpius/Sagittarius Milky Way, including a tangle of objects near the galactic center?
I think we won’t run out of cool stuff to look at. If you’re there, I’ll look forward to seeing you on Friday and Saturday.